Barack Obama reacted for the first time on Saturday since Donald Trump shared a racist video depicting him as a monkey. The former Democratic president denounced a “clown show”. He also criticized anti-immigration operations in the United States, described as abuses worthy of a “dictatorship”.
Published on: 02/15/2026 - 05:41 Modified on: 02/15/2026 - 10:18
Rather rare in the media, Barack Obama spoke in a political podcast, broadcast on Saturday February 14, during which he expressed concern about the excesses of the United States under his Republican successor.
The former Democratic president deplored the "clown show" offered by the American political class after Donald Trump shared a racist video depicting him as a monkey.
He also condemned anti-immigration operations, worthy, according to him, of a dictatorship.
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Left-wing political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen questions him in particular about the "degradation of American political discourse" and cites as an example the video, widely denounced as racist, broadcast then deleted on Donald Trump's account, at the beginning of the month on the Truth Social network.
Trump's animosity against Obama
The majority of people in the United States “find this behavior deeply disturbing,” replies Barack Obama, without explicitly mentioning the video or his Republican successor.
"There's a sort of clown show that's going on on social media and on television, and what's true is that it doesn't seem to cause any shame among people who previously felt that it was necessary to show a certain decency, a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? That's been lost," says the former president.
The video, to which he had not yet reacted, represents the faces of Barack Obama, the country's first black president, and his wife Michelle Obama on the bodies of monkeys, sparking numerous criticisms from Democrats and some Republicans.
Donald Trump played down the criticism and claimed he had not seen the portion of the video in question, with the White House saying a member of his staff was responsible for the release.
The billionaire has a particular animosity against Barack Obama, a very popular figure with Americans. He only calls him "Barack Hussein Obama," using his middle name, and has helped spread conspiracy theories around the Democrat's nationality.
During his campaign, the Republican leader increased his violent statements against immigrants and spread false information with racist overtones.
“This is not the America we believe in”
In the same interview, Barack Obama is very vocal regarding the actions of the immigration police (ICE) and the border police in Minneapolis, until the end of their deployment this week.
“The errant behavior of federal government agents is deeply worrying and dangerous,” he asserts, referring to behavior “that we have seen in the past in authoritarian countries and in dictatorships.”
Since December, several thousand federal police officers - often masked - have increased anti-migrant raids and arrests, sparking revolt among many residents of this Democratic bastion which has become the epicenter of hostility to the American president's repressive migration policy.
Two US citizens who tried to oppose ICE, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were shot and killed there by federal agents last month.
See alsoFocus: in the United States, ICE scans citizens and immigrants in the street
Barack Obama had already criticized the actions of ICE, calling for a “startle” from citizens while fundamental values are “under attack”.
In the podcast, he welcomes the resistance to these operations: "These are citizens who are saying, in a systematic and organized way: 'this is not the America we believe in,' and we are going to resist, we are going to fight back with the truth, and with cameras, and with peaceful demonstrations."
“This type of heroic and persistent behavior on the part of ordinary people, despite the subzero temperatures, should give us hope,” adds Barack Obama.
Standoff in Congress
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump's right-hand man, announced Thursday the end of the operation in Minnesota. The Democratic opposition continues to call for broad reforms to how ICE operates, including an end to flying patrols, a ban on agents hiding their faces, and a requirement to obtain a court warrant before arresting an immigrant.
To this end, Democratic leaders in Congress are refusing to approve the 2026 funding plan for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
With AFP
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